Gamers seeking real thing face recruitment barrage

THEY'RE young, teeming with testosterone and they want to blow
things up.

But the Australian Defence Force's key recruiting demographic
watches less and less TV, preferring to go online or play video
games. So the ADF, with online partner Visual Jazz, is putting free
war games on the internet as a recruiting tool.

Last week Melbourne-based Visual Jazz released Extreme
Battleships, a 21st century upgrade of the classic game designed
for the Windows Live Messenger service.

Users can play against any of Messenger's 4.4 million Australian
members or other MSN contacts overseas.

The strategy game showcases the Royal Australian Navy, its
ships, technology and job opportunities, and links back to the main
recruiting site at defencejobs.gov.au.

Last October the company released the fight-flight sim ADF:
Aviator featuring 3D virtual aerial combat missions around the
world.

More than 18,000 people have downloaded it. But this pales in
comparison with genre leader America's Army, which boasts 7.5
million registered players.

Visual Jazz general manager Konrad Spilva says he used America's
Army as a case study when he pitched the idea of ADF: Aviator three
years ago.

"Their target market of 17 to 25-year-old males spends a lot of
time playing computer games, rather than watching TV," he says.

Aviator was put together in four months. The development team
travelled to air force bases and interviewed pilots about real-life
missions but the main complaint from hard-core gamers was that it
lacked the sophistication of most PC and Xbox games.

"They want more missions, more aircraft, they want to know more
about actual ADF tactics - combat realism," Mr Spilva says. The
team is working on a new version of the game that will provide all
that, plus a multiplayer element.

With Battleships, the team is targeting MSN Messenger's 4.4
million registered users, the vast majority of whom are aged
15-24.

Initially the ADF thought about sponsoring an existing game but
instead decided to make their own to take advantage of new
graphical functions in the recent Live Messenger upgrade.

In its first four days the game had more than 55,000 visitors.
By Sunday about 20 per cent were returning players.

Mr Spilva says his company has no ethical problems with making
war games designed to entice the nation's online youth to try the
real thing.

"It is actually a nice feeling working on something that does
more good than harm, rather than just selling a product," he says.
"It's not just moving something off a shelf, it's helping the navy
and air force which do an important job."

Earlier this month Prime Minister John Howard admitted a
recruiting crisis had left the Australian Defence Force short of
about 1200 personnel.

He announced a $10 billion plan to increase the army's size by
two battalions, or 2600 personnel, with more generous pay and
better conditions.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson loves the idea of online war
games with a recruiting edge, says Richard Howarth, national
marketing manager for defence force recruiting.

"(Aviator and Battleships) are part of an overall strategy to
grow our market interest a little bit broader, beyond those who are
100 per cent interested in a career with the ADF," Mr Howarth
says.

"It's there to be fun and engaging. But if you want to find out
more about the ships, or technical trade roles in the navy, there's
a click-back to (the recruiting website)."

About 70 per cent of the navy's target recruiting demographic
has broadband internet and wants a broadband experience, he
says.

With that in mind the ADF is creating a "navy lifestyle" site,
to be launched next month, which uses Flash and video to show the
real nature of life at sea.